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Literature from across the globe plotted using Google Maps

A new Google Maps mashup is giving bookworms a sense of direction when it comes to picking out new reading material. Launched on 21 May by UK organisation Lovereading, the map plots 200 works of literature according to their key locations across the planet. "We have had the idea of a book map for a while as so many books vividly take you to a specific location -- and I, for one, always like to read a book based on where I am going on holiday," director and co-founder of Lovereading Peter Crawshaw tells WIRED.co.uk. "However it took a bit longer to select the 200 books (that are in V1.0 of the map) and then do all the research and building."

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Near to WIRED's own offices in London are plotted key locations from the Forsyte Saga, Charles Dickens' Bleak House and Scoop by Evelyn Waugh. We're also not too far away from Kings Cross station, where Harry Potter boards the Hogwarts Express.

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It feels like the Book Map could not only be used to help holidaymakers identify books to read on their travels, but could be used to create literary tours of certain places or cities. We're looking forward to seeing some of the obvious locations for these projects, like Paris and San Francisco, become populated with more works of fiction, that weave literary and historical narratives of the cities' geographies.

The Book Map is not a static project, and the Lovereading team is taking requests for books to include in the next version of the map. "So far we have over 700 submissions and once we have checked them we will be launching a V2.0 with the hope that we have a pretty comprehensive list of books for hopefully every country in the world," says Crawshaw.